Narrow focus of summer reading challenges

[Legomania]

Summer reading challenges have come on my radar for the first time - but they seem to be rather narrowly focused, to the point of being counterproductive. The ones I have seen are themed around the environment or diversity (obviously great to have either as incidental to the plot but to have them as a theme just seems to defeat the object of normalising care for the environment or inclusion).

Surely this defeats the purpose of getting children to read more widely, especially where their families don't have the budget to buy six specific new books? Couldn't schemes/schools just say 'have a certificate for reading x number of books over the summer, here's a list of suggestions of new and classic books for each age group'?

Summer reading challenge is library based - you don’t have to buy the books you borrow them. It’s about promoting reading and libraries. The books your child reads don’t have to be based on this years theme - they can pick anything they like. The rewards are based on the theme - stickers per book read etc plus extras for completing the challenge like pens, medals etc.

You can find more information at your local library or online - summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/

Thank you for clearing that up for me on the library reading challenge - I was thrown off by the main theme/sponsor.

We've been sent a different one by our school which is sponsored by a bookshop focusing on diversity and inclusion - laudable in itself (I might buy a few for my dcs) but I think too narrow for a school where a lot of families won't be able to afford new books.

Our library is doing it differently this year, and encouraging you to come in and get additional stickers for any books read throughout the challenge. It's nice, encourages us to get back in the habit of regular library use after they have been limited for so long.

Mine haven't done the reading challenges at the library for a long time (being teens) but I found it a bit disappointing when it moved from "read some of this selection of books" to "read any books you liked".

I remember ds working out that he could choose a very short book he could read easily and it was as valid as a longer one. Dd2 reading all the same books as normal etc. By changing it to any books they would have done it within the first couple of weeks of the holiday with no incentive, so it made it not a challenge. However I don't think they were really the ones it was aimed at.

I remember doing one when I was a teen. You picked a ticket from the right age category and it gave you three authors and you had to find a book by one of them. I found several authors that I'd never have considered but found I rather liked.
Did have the downside that one set of 3 authors all our library had was 2 books, both the same, which were the 3rd (out of 4) in a series that made no sense if you hadn't read the earlier ones, but that was the only bad pick out of 8.
You could just collect the stickers for reading the books or you could choose to submit a review which put you in for a regional prize. So it was possible to do it at various levels.

I've never seen a library reading challenge that wasn't just read any book you like.

The ones I did as a child were better than the current one (of 6 books) though, you could get bronze, silver and gold medals and the gold medal winners got to come to a special event and meet an author (I remember it being Anne Fine one year). I can't remember for the life of me how many books it was though, certainly more than 12, possibly up to 24.

https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk this years theme is wild world heroes last year it was the silly squad 2019 was space chase

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I’m guessing you have been linked to the one started by The New Chapter bookshop. I’m doing that one, to increase my knowledge of children’s protagonists away from white, neurotypical characters. Many of the book choices are excellent.
I think the aim is to move children beyond the Walliams/ Wimpy Kid/ Geek Girl rut. Laudable idea, but I tend to find that the children who complete the challenge are not the children I would worry about reading enough in the first place.
As you say, I’d be delighted if every child had read one book a week: the subject or author would be lower on my priorities list.

Yep, that's the one. A lot of those books look lovely but I'm not going to be spending £50 on a set. (Plus he can be a bit hard to buy for as his maturity/interests and reading level are out of whack.)

But he'll keep reading regardless, and we'll keep visiting the library, even if we won't be ticking off the list.

Don't bother with list. Just get your kids to the library to choose books.

As long as he's reading!

It's the holiday - fabulous for him to choose his own books.